October 13, 2025
When I was a kid if someone had told me that in the future 33 Columbus statues would be toppled from public places I would have said, "That is insane! I suppose the next thing you are going to tell me is that Custer is no longer a national hero?"
Columbus Meets The Pavement
Speaking of the shifting sands of our petty and porous belief systems, I read with interest in the New York Times book review section this morning about a new book "What We Can Know" and one of its themes around history is "the ultimate unknowability of the past" which hit me right where I live. The book makes the claim that all of our efforts are "imperfect approximations," and another phrase in the review made me think of Paul Andrew Hutton: "the dead hand of academic neutrality," something the Distinguished Professor has fought against and skirted in all of his books and all his efforts. But in the end here's the quote that got to me.
"You often hear history will be my judge, but history will have its own obsessions, prejudices and amnesia. We don't get to climb some sort of mountain of Truth and stand on the top and know everything."
—Ian McEwan, author of "What We Can Know"
Interesting metaphor, the so-called Mountain of Truth which me and all of my history-minded friends attempt to climb all day, every day. Which brings me back around to "I Married Wyatt Earp," the discredited "true narrative" of Josephine "Sadie" Earp's Tombstone story.
It is sobering that the true story of Sadie's trip to Arizona involves her being a 14-year-old prostitute (she was apparently arrested for solicitation at age 12!). I have a hard time believing anyone is going to retell the Tombstone story with THAT as the primary premise, but then again, see Columbus example above.
"I Married Wyatt Earp" went through a dozen printings at the University of Arizona Press from 1976 to 2000 and allegedly sold more than 35,000 copies, earning Boyer a reputation as one the most acclaimed Earp experts. If you are still hankering for the truth, warts and all, I highly recommend Peter Brand's new book:
Today, like Columbus, Custer and Woody Allen, Boyer resides somewhere deep in the cultural banished bin.
And, it must be said, my old alma mater newspaper, New Times Weekly did some of the most serious reporting to discredit Boyer. Investigative reporter Tony Ortega wrote two features, "How The West Was Spun" (a very clever title) and, "I Varied Wyatt Earp" (even more clever) to eventually force the U of A Press to withdraw the book in 2000.
The irony to me is that Boyer lived out his life in relative comfort near Tombstone and of the two mainstays of New Times Weekly (Truth to Power!), Mike Lacey is in prison for prostitution profiteering (see Back Page scandal) and his partner, and a good friend of mine, Jim Larkin, committed suicide over the tortuous trials and government prosecution.
"If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."
—Khalil Gibran
very nice article, enjoyed
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